Elijah Menaḥem ben Abba Mari Ḥalfan was a kabbalist and humanist who lived in Venice. He worked as a physician and was educated in both philosophy and rabbinic literature. He was an associate of the Portuguese Jewish messianic pretender Solomon Molkho and is known for his openness to interacting with—and even teaching Hebrew to—Christian scholars.
Listen carefully to my words. When I was in the land of Safed, one night, when the sun had set, I was tired and weary, lying on my bed. I was asleep, but my heart was awake; my beloved was knocking…
The object of this publication, an Ethiopian text, is taken from a book of Falasha prayers which I acquired from Dabtarà Bàrok, a Jewish man of letters, in Adenkato. It contains the…
For opening the heart; tested and tried. Take a new glass and write on it:
I adjure you, Patḥiel, to open my heart to all the Torah to learn all that I desire. That my heart should be as an…